Category Archives: e-Vermont

My son’s backpack was stolen, and in it? His much-needed-for-school graphing calculator! As there are only 3 months remaining in school, and he’s a senior, I don’t want to run out and buy a new one. Anyone have a no longer being used one that they’d like to lend (preferably) or sell?

And then yesterday her follow up…

A big THANK YOU to both the respondents to my plea, and to FPF. What a valuable resource for the community. Thank you to the loan offers and thank you to the giver of the generous gift of a no-longer-being-used calculator. Great way to reduce, reuse, recycle AND help

A Morristown man is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for a fire that destroyed his business last year. But state fire investigators say the blaze wasn’t suspicious and there is no active investigation.

Most traditional media outlets in Vermont use their local FPFs for leads to stories that they investigate and report on. We’re glad to play this role… and others. Further, we appreciate when proper attribution is included in the piece, e.g….

He posted a notice on Front Porch Forum last week, offering a $5,000 reward in hope that someone would contact state police with information.

Stowe and the surround communities are fortunate to have the Reporter and the Record digging into local stories.

“VCRD launched the Vermont Digital Economy Project to offer free support to speed flood recovery, spur economic development and job growth, and improve community resilience to disasters. The project worked directly with Vermont towns affected by 2011’s floods to help businesses, nonprofits and municipalities expand their use of online tools. Together with project partners, we helped increase digital literacy and online workforce training, added Wi-Fi and other public access points, brought a community-based social network to every Vermont town, created town websites and community calendars, promoted the use of “cloud” applications, and provided customized small-business and nonprofit training.”

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just sliding down the muddy road
Looking for fun, the road is groovy
Ba da da da da da da, the road is groovy
Hello, lamppost, whatcha knowin?
Hope not to hit ya when its snowin
Aintcha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in doo-doo, the road is groovy
Ba da da da da da da, the road is groovy
I got no deeds to do
No promises to keep
Im dappled and drowsy and the road is too steep
Dont let the morning time sic its ice ruts on me
Life, I love you
The road is groovy

He forgot to suggest, Doot-in doo-doo, that we all get good snow tires!
Happy, safe Holidays!

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A central Vermont FPF member emailed several of her local municipal officials urging greater use of their FPF to reach and engage citizens about a host of topics. The Town Clerk just replied with this:

“… the Clerk’s office makes quite a bit of use of Front Porch Forum. I get quite a bit of feedback on it, particularly around election related deadlines and events. I’m pretty sure the Senior Center (and probably others) does too, so I know the utility has been spreading. I love FPF for clerk stuff, actually. It’s a perfect fit. If it wasn’t there, we’d have to invent it.”

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Carl Etnier interviewed Michael Wood-Lewis, Front Porch Forum co-founder, today on WGDR’s Relocalizing Vermont show. They discussed stories about how the popular online community-building business was founded – and fielded questions from callers.

In other business, [the chairman of the Sunderland Selectboard] said there has been discussion lately on Front Porch Forum, the social media site… about town government and… how to get more people involved in local government. He said Sunderland has been having trouble filling open positions, some of which include compensation…

“These positions are open routinely. The lister hasn’t been filled for years,” he said. “We just can’t get people to come in. The lister is a paid position. The auditor is a paid position; it’s 20 bucks an hour … it actually pays something. No one wants to do it.” Hyde said if these positions stay open, contractors would have to be hired…

The board decided to post meeting agendas to Front Porch Forum, to help disseminate the information.

Wise decision by town leadership! A new survey recently found that FPF subscribers are twice as likely to be “very informed” about local government services than those not using FPF. And the number of people who attend municipal meetings at least once a month increases 38% when joining FPF.

I posted those baby spider plants on our Front Porch Forum yesterday and today? I got 7 “hits” with folks who were wanting to adopt them.They came and got them and carefully put them into their vehicles (one girl was on a bike) and took them home. Baby plants finding homes via the forum? You should be proud, FPF, for coming up with such a great plan for an online community bulletin board. Great service. Huge fan. Huge.

Sunday’s FPF posting about the found cat on Center Rd sure brought me a lot of responses! Happily, she is back home with her family as of last night!

There are many other lost cats in our community, and I thought I’d post some suggestions.

First, do not give up hope. The kitty who made it home last night was almost FIVE MILES from her house, and had been missing for a week. When your cat or dog goes missing, you should post it on your local Front Porch Forum, and use the check-off to let neighboring FPFs see the post. You should also post on Facebook… and email all pertinent information to [your local] Humane Society.

If you find a stray animal, please call [your local animal control officer]… I’d also like to make a plug here for micro-chipping your pets — it’s safe, economical, and can make the difference for getting your pet back. And one more thing — LICENSE your dog with our town clerk – that really helps me to figure out where they belong! Thank you all for caring about our community’s animals.